What is Savoca known for?

Filming location for the Sicilian scenes of Coppola's 1972 film, with the wedding at San Nicolò and the courtship at Bar Vitelli. Thirty-seven preserved bodies in the Capuchin crypt, desiccated with vinegar and salt between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Saracen-Norman castle ruin on the highest point of the village, with the panorama from Taormina to Messina that drew Coppola in 1971.

Savoca is a comune in the province of Messina, Sicily region of Italy, about 40 kilometers from Messina.

Sicily · Messina

Savoca

A hilltop borgoabove the Ionian where Francis Ford Coppola filmed the Sicilian scenes of The Godfather in 1971.

40 km / 25 mi

Nearest hub (Messina)

1,724

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Savoca sitson a hill above the Ionian coast, fifteen kilometers north of Taormina. The medieval village is known for two things. First, the Capuchin convent below the centro storico holds the Catacombe dei Cappuccini, with thirty-seven mummified bodies of notables from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, preserved in a colatoio that desiccated the corpses with vinegar and salt. Second, in the summer of 1971 Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo arrived to film the Sicilian scenes of The Godfather: the original Corleone, in the Palermo province, was deemed too modern. The thirteenth-century Chiesa di San Nicolò, suspended on a rock promontory at the top of the hill, played the church where Michael Corleone married Apollonia. Bar Vitelli, the bar of Maria Vitelli in the lower piazza, is the bar where Michael asks Apollonia's father permission to court his daughter, still functioning fifty years later.

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Gallery

8 photos · scroll →

Known for

Chiesa di San Nicolò
Thirteenth-century church on a rock promontory at the top of the village, the wedding scene location for Michael and Apollonia in The Godfather.
Bar Vitelli
Eighteenth-century palazzo and family bar in the lower piazza, used as the bar of Apollonia's father in The Godfather and still operating.
Cripta dei Frati Cappuccini
Crypt of the Capuchin convent with thirty-seven mummified bodies of local notables, desiccated with vinegar and salt in a ventilated chamber.
Centro storico
Medieval borgo of stepped lanes and balconied stone houses on a ridge above the Ionian, listed among the Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Castello Pentefur
Ruins of the medieval Saracen-Norman castle on the highest point of the hill, with a panorama over the coast from Taormina to Messina.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October are the months Savoca is busy. The Godfather pilgrims arrive year-round, but the village photographs best in spring and autumn, when the Ionian below is clear and the hill stays cool. July and August are warm; the centro storico is shaded in late afternoon, and the climb up to Pentefur is best at dawn. April and October are the best balance of light and crowds. November through March is quiet: many shops close, the Cripta keeps shorter hours, and the wind off the strait can be cold. The patronal feast of Santa Lucia on the second Sunday of August is when the village fills with locals and the statue from San Nicolò is carried through the streets.